We've been home with Ellis for 2 days now. I can't begin tell you how wonderful it has been to be home. She loves it here, we can tell. She's been more peaceful and laid back since our arrival. Big brother has loved having her home too and always runs to "check on baby sister" whenever she starts to cry. It's so sweet.
We have home health nurses that come in bi-monthly to check on her and are also available 24/7 in case of emergency. This has helped with peace of mind. Once the new year rolls around all of her appointments will start. We will check back in with Neurology to see how she's doing. Repeat scans will be done at some point. This doesn't scare me very much anymore. She has shown over and over she's way more than what her scans say and she does way more than her scans said she could do.

She will soon be starting out-patient therapy at a local children's facility. Taking care of her will be my main job for the foreseeable future. It will take many months to get her to a stable place. As we move forward in our journey I will continually update you (you can also get email updates by clicking the "follow" button to your left). There will be progress big and small as we continue to see her restored and walking out her miracle. Just today she had one. She's only been able to open her left eye since she came off the vent. The right eye she's kept closed. Today she opened her right eye, almost the entire way. It may seem like a small thing but it's just one more tangible way we are seeing her restored.

People have asked me to list out the miracles we have seen with her.

There's many.

It's amazing she came off the vent and was able to breathe on her own. She was not initiating breathes on her own when she was on the vent. The fact she was able to come off all respiratory help and all the sudden breathe, it's incredible. It's a miracle she's been able to take a bottle. According to doctors she didn't have enough brain power to do so. It's a miracle her seizures have gotten under control. We were told that would never happen. Since coming off the vent, and taking less meds, she's actually had less seizures. It's a miracle she's able to move her arms and her legs. We weren't sure she would have that ability after her injury. It's a miracle she's able to hear when we whisper in her ear. You talk to her and you are able to calm her down. It's amazing how quickly her brain swelling has gone down.

I debated whether to post this picture, but at the end of the day I wanted you to have something tangible you could see that illustrates how miraculous her recovery has been thus far and also the power of your prayers. On the left is how bad her head swell was (the marks on her head are from being attached to a machine). That picture was taken less than two weeks ago. We were told it would take months and months for the swelling to go down, and even then it may require surgery. I used to look at her head and it would make me physically sick and distraught to see her with that immense amount of swelling. A few days ago it started to shrink on its own, rapidly. Now her heads almost completely normal. It's been amazing to witness.

We haven't been told by just one doctor she's a miracle, we've been told by doctor after doctor and nurse after nurse. Of this there is no doubt.

I'm so thankful to those of you who've prayed for her daily. I'm excited at what's ahead for her and to continue to share the story of our little family, with yours.

We stand together in unity to declare that beloved Ellis will live life to the fullness of what she was created for. Her brain will be completely restored, functioning at 100%. Every seizure will cease as healing is being accelerated over her life. She will live to declare Jehovah is God, and her life will be a light and testimony to the nations. We declare, that darkness is as light to you, God. We call forth light into the dark places and believe that what the enemy intends for evil, God is using for good. We break the power of every stronghold and argument over her life that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We declare that no weapon formed against her will prosper. We declare that her spirit will rise up and lead her soul and her body. Ellis Claire Rodriguez, arise, shine, His glory is upon you.

Sarah Rodriguez Rhodes

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Ellis Update: Today was a hard morning, guys. We got to the hospital & things just felt all wrong. I don’t know how to explain it other than that. Then the anesthesiologist had issues with some secretions Ellis was having that we were told amplified her risk during the surgery while under anesthesia. Given the past things we’ve walked through, we just decided it wasn’t a risk we were at all willing to take. So we made the decision to go home, re-group & do the surgery another day. Since the surgery is elective we had our medical teams full support in this decision. We are home now & doing well. This wasn’t an easy decision to make. For months we’ve prepared mentally, emotionally, schedule-wise, financially etc for this day. But we have to be lead by peace. And if those giving her medical care also weren’t completely at peace, it just wasn’t the right time, for whatever reason. I don’t always understand the “why” but I won’t always & I’m ok with that. We appreciate your prayers & promise to keep you informed of when her surgery will be in the coming months. Also, the day wasn’t a complete loss...Ellis did get to hang with the cute hospital dog-so at least that part was a win ☺️ Looking for some kind of humor-it’s been a rough day.

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